History - Edgewood Community Church

In 2007, we again stepped out in faith in regards to staffing, and God has honored our faith, met our needs, and more than richly blessed as a result.

We’ve been encouraged by the addition of Jeff Thompson as our Worship Director, who has done a terrific job of using his unique giftedness to arrange worship teams and faithfully lead us into God’s presence each weekend.

We’re also very thankful to have added Cheri Buchholz to our team in 2007 as our Children’s Ministry Director. Cheri brought energy and passion to the Greenhouse ministry in 2007, as well as freeing up Pastor Mike to turn his attention to small groups and adult ministries.

And our growing nursery received a new director, Diane Knowlton, and a new name, “God’s Garden.” I know she’s my wife, but I’m being as honest as I can when I say that Diane has done a wonderful job of organizing our one nursery into two, and introducing instruction to the toddlers.

Finally, we also welcomed Jean Homan as a part-time receptionist and website upkeeper. Jean has made a great addition to our crack administrative team in the Edgewood office.

Highlights of 2008

We had our first vacation Bible school--Outrigger Island--that Cheri Buchholz ran as her last ministry before getting her teaching degree. After that, Jane Neevel took over as Children's Ministry Director. Jane spends a lot of time getting the programs ready each weekend.

Pastor Mike Giebink celebrated 10 years of ministry at Edgewood.

We started our loaning library with the organizing efforts of Art Volkmann and the donations of many.

Our 2-year-old nursery got an extreme room makeover. Project director, Diane Holland, created a hands on visually appealing "God's Garden" complete with Velcro veggies you can pick off the wall and flower mirrors. Assistants were P.J. Wetak and Sarah Dobbratz.

We had 4 baptisms, 19 new members, and 12 child dedications. We have a current membership of 260 with an average weekly attendance of 574.

Highlights of 2009

We had Sara Pollock take over as nursery director from Diane Knowlton.

Roger and his family took a long sabbatical to Scotland and Europe with the help of a grant and the blessing of the elders and congregation. Many walks into the hills were taken in the Highlands. When they returned, we celebrated with a picnic and later a fantastic slide show with high tea and goodies to show what they all did. Josh Knowlton showed himself to be quite the photographer.

Jeremy Thompson left to take a position with a girl's group home in Illinois with his wife and daughters. Tim Sandberg served as interim youth pastor and worked with the middle school, high school, and young adults groups. Tim has shown himself to be quite intense in his desire to grow others. He is also a coffee connoisseur and took over the new coffee house ministry of Cafe' Edgewood.

Emily Engelhardt designed and created Cafe' Edgewood with warm, welcoming colors and fun, contemporary furnishing. She got a lot of recruitment help from her family members with staining, shopping, and sawing. The new look is fantastic!

Highlights of 2010

In May, we hired Jamie Thompson as the new youth pastor. We welcomed him and his family with a church potluck. In July, he took about 25 students and many adult leaders for a week at Lifest for camping and great music. Tim Sandberg is continuing with Cafe' Edgewood and working with the YAMS (young adults) as well as helping with the youth groups as a volunteer.